Bloomberg Booed, Cheered At St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Bloomberg booed: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg received his share of boos and jeers from Hurricane Sandy-hit Rockaway residents who were not pleased with the city’s response to their neighborhood.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (L) and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) walk through the newly re-opened Fairway Market on the waterfront in Red Hook on March 1, 2013 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

During a parade in the Queens neighborhood of Rockaways—an area severely hit by Hurricane Sandy—Mayor Bloomberg and other New York officials, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, were showered with boos during the St. Patrick’s Day parade. However, there were many parade-goers who didn’t share some of the others’ ire.

The New York Daily News published photos of the jeering and booing crowd. Apparently, many were angry over how the city responded to Sandy.

“I booed loudly,” Margaret Wagner, 48, told the paper. “We had no food, no shelter. People died here, and Bloomberg was on TV talking about a marathon. It’s appalling.”

However, one person said that the parade shows “that we’re back in action once again,” reported NY1. “Rockaway people stick together, from Breezy Point all the way down,” another person said.

And one parade attendee said that Bloomberg “did the best he can” in light of Sandy’s unprecedented damage.

But others believed that Bloomberg failed to address the situation properly.

“We’ve been dying down here, up to our ears in muck trying to rebuild, get back to a regular life,” said one parade-goer, according to the New York Post. The person added, “For the politicians to come down here and try to take our celebration and make it their thing … it’s disgusting.”

Christine Quinn, a mayoral candidate, walked with Bloomberg for a time before falling back a bit.

The annual Queens County St. Patrick’s Day Parade route went through the Belle Harbor, the site of several fires that burned several buildings to the ground, reported NBC News. They also passed a block of burned-out stores in Rockaway Park.

“This town really needed this parade, just to show the world that this hurricane is not going to keep us down,” Nick Muro, 49, told the Post. “We’re looking forward to the bands, the bagpipers—they’re really just pumping us all back up,” he said.

Muro added: “We needed this parade just to show the world that this hurricane is not going to keep us down.”